Foundations
by CeredwenFlame
Summary: Exploring my personal Glee Head Canon as it relates to Kurt and how he interacts with others. Rated for potential later chapters. I hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** So, I've had various ideas for how Kurt met and interacts with the other characters in Glee. One main point being Brittany. No, I don't envision him turning straight or anything like that, but I do think that Britt is special to him. Thus it is only fitting that this begins with Kurt and Brittany. Not sure how often I will update this or how many characters but if any of you have suggestions by all means leave them in a PM or a review! Thank you!

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The backyard was enclosed by a white picket fence, but it was more for decoration than privacy or security. The way the house was situated, were it not for that barrier the lot would share backyards with the house from the street behind it. It was this fact that would lead to walls of different sorts coming down. A four year old Kurt Hummel was quietly playing picnic in the backyard. His mother was watching him from the kitchen window. She had set out a blanket for him and even a plate of sandwich triangles with the crusts cut off. He also had a small cooler with some juice boxes in it. It pained Elizabeth Hummel to see her little boy out there all alone but he did not seem to mind it. He had his picnic lunch and his favorite teddy bears to keep him company so to him all was well.

Brittany Susan Pierce's family had grown as she now had a baby sister. Their old house had been too little and they'd moved across town into one of the suburban communities to a larger house that better suited their needs. She missed her little room at the old house but this house had a much larger back yard to play in and that seemed much better. They had only recently settled in and today was the first day that she was actually getting to explore. Her mom was sitting on the back porch with her baby sister and she was allowed to play in the yard so she went out to explore every inch of her new play area.

It wasn't long before she found herself at the back fence. She was a little on the taller side for her age but she was willowy thin and if not for all of the dance classes her parents had her in there would have been no outlet for all her energy. Through the pickets of the fence she could see a little boy playing and she wondered idly if he had some imaginary friends playing with him. She had a few and they were nice but it was always interesting to make new friends. "Hi!" she called out happily.

Kurt's head lifted and turned towards the sound, startled. The back neighbor house had been empty for as long as he could remember so he wasn't used to hearing any voices from the back yard. He could just make out some bright blue eyes and a little bit of blond between the pickets of the fence. He put aside his things and carefully pushed himself to his feet. Cautiously he padded over towards the back fence. "Hello?" he asked, a little confused and uncertain.

Brittany then recognized the boy that was her new backyard neighbor - it was that very pretty little boy Kurt Hummel from her ballet class. "Hi Kurty," she said cheerfully.

"Brittany?" he inquired.

"Yep. I'm your new backyard neighbor. Mommy and daddy had to get a bigger house because I have a baby sister now. I didn't know we'd be so close to someone I know though."

Kurt for his part was not sure how to take this. On the one hand, he was used to being by himself - for it had always been that way outside of preschool or ballet class. On the other hand, he did like Brittany, she seemed to be a very interesting girl. He watched her in dance class with fascination because the way she moved was already so much better than most of their classmates and she was just so full of shiny happy energy that it was hard to not get caught up in it. He decided tentatively that having Brittany now as a neighbor had to be a good thing. "What's it like... having a sister?" he inquired, his musical voice quiet as he made his way close to the fence.

"I'm not sure yet. Mandy's so tiny... and really loud but not always. She doesn't look much like the Cabbage Patch babies though. Daddy said something about a stork bringing her - maybe that's why?" Brittany asked as she twined a lock of blonde hair around her finger. "She looked at me though and smiled all big and that was nice..."

Kurt was not sure what to think of the idea of a baby sibling. The crying alone would probably irk him to no end but if Brittany was happy then he would say nothing. The baby wasn't his little sister so it didn't matter. He thought about more things now. It would be really nice to have someone to play with and maybe Brittany could be that person. They were the only little kids in this part of the neighborhood. With his mom teaching older kids piano, they couldn't always go to the park or anything like that... and he did like Brittany, as much as he liked anyone really. She danced pretty good and she'd never made fun of him for being in ballet.

He looked back to his little picnic blanket. He still had some peanut butter sandwiches with their crusts cut off and some juice boxes still in the little cooler his mom had brought outside for him. "Want to picnic?" he asked.

"I'm not sure mom will let me come over..." Brittany said softly, frowning.

"What if... what if you get a blanket and come over to the fence. I can hand you a sandwich and a juice box and we can maybe talk about ballet class or something," Kurt suggested.

Brittany tilted her head to one side as she pondered the offer and then she nodded, her hair bouncing around her face as she got up and went quickly to her mother's side. Kurt looked at his things and it took some doing and several trips but he moved his things over to the fence. The cooler was the hardest part - he had to drag it... but he did it and he was really proud of himself. By the time he was finished, Brittany had returned with an old flannel blanket and was sitting by the fence. He handed her a sandwich through the fence and a juice box.

The two children chattered on about Miss Suzanne's ballet class and Brittany commented that it was a little too easy for her. Kurt looked down, blushing a bit because he felt the same way. Brittany reached her little hand through the fence and poked his side, eliciting a peal of laughter from the ticklish Kurt. "Why did you look away?" Brittany asked.

"I... I think I agree with you," he admitted quietly. He was worried that she would think him weird for thinking so. It seemed like though there were other boys in the class that most of them were there because they had sisters or because their parents forced them to be there. It really didn't seem like any of them were there because they wanted to be there.

"Oh good. I was starting to think I was the only one. I like dancing. It's so much fun and though there are some rules there aren't really a lot of them. You can just move to the music and sometimes I imagine I'm floating on clouds or on water and it's even more fun," Brittany giggled.

Kurt pondered that, he had never really done that. "Sometimes I pretend I'm a prince..." he admitted softly.

Brittany perked up at this. "Oh! You really would make a good prince Kurty. You look pretty like princes do," she replied, nodding her head before nibbling more on the sandwich.

Elizabeth Hummel looked out the window and chuckled at the sight of her son leaning against the fence talking to a little blonde girl that she recognized from Kurt's dance class. It soothed her to see her son interacting with another child his own age. He was so smart, reading already at a fourth grade level and progressing all the time. He seemed so lonely to her sometimes. He didn't really fit in with the other boys his age and most of the girls his age didn't want boys around them.

She decided then that as soon as she was finished with what she was working on that she would make a plate of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and take them over to the 'new' neighbors. Hopefully the two children could find friendship together.


	2. Chapter 2

They settled into an odd sort of rhythm. Brittany would come over and he would share his dress up costumes with her. She would sit and listen while his mom taught him piano - sometimes twirling when the music flowed long enough to inspire her to move. Brittany had asked Mrs. Hummel if she'd mind teaching her how to play piano too and then maybe she could help Kurt with some other dancing and that would be a good trade - right? Her parents had been talking about trading stuff so that sounded like it made sense to her. So Brittany started sharing the things she was learning in her other dance class with Kurt. He only took ballet but she took a little bit of everything because she just liked to dance that much.

Brittany really liked Mrs. Hummel who insisted that Britt call her Aunt Lizzie. It was nice, it was like bonus family. Kurt would sometimes come over and they would play with her dolls and those things. They'd dance around her room and make up stories together and it was really nice. However, she liked going over to Kurty's house better. She loved her baby sister, but the crying sometimes started to get to her. There were no babies crying at Kurty's house. Plus, Aunt Lizzie almost always had cookies and she even allowed Kurt and Brittany to help her make them.

Currently, Brittany was dressed in a cute blue skirt with white tights and a white shirt that had blue flowers on it. Her hair was done up in pigtails and she had her new little stuffed animal - a little unicorn, tucked up under her arm. Horny was mostly white but had blue streaks in his hair and his horn was mostly white but it shined silver and blue and gold and pink - it was amazing. It was time for piano lessons and Kurty time at the Hummel house so Brittany bounced through the new gate that had been put in the backyard so the kids could go back and forth without having to go into a neighbor's yard or around the streets.

She bounced up onto the back porch, twirling so her skirt whirled out around her, giggling as it did. She then knocked on the backdoor. Aunt Lizzie greeted her with a smile and a gentle hug and led her to the piano where Kurt was just finishing up his lesson for the day. They might only be four years old but he already played pretty good. Brittany was still having trouble with the scales but Kurt could even play songs. Twinkle Twinkle and Itsy Bitsy Spider which to her seemed really impressive.

While she sat beside Aunt Lizzie, Kurt sat on a stool next to them humming the scales as Brittany played them. He was also reading Horton Hears a Who. He was still working on getting better at reading but Dr. Seuss books were more fun to read. They had a rhythm - like music and it made it more fun. His mother said that he was already doing very well at reading he was even grasping bigger words. He felt that it helped that his mother had never really done the whole baby talk thing. She'd always spoken to him as she would speak to another adult. Whenever he didn't understand something she would always explain it to him and he liked that. He never felt silly and she always made him feel like he could come to her with anything.

He read along to the rhythm of the scales Brittany was playing on the piano. She was getting better and better every time she came over. Her fingertips were almost as nimble as her feet. Speaking of her feet, they swayed in time to the scales Britt was playing as well. It was kind of funny. Kurt's mother was smiling, she'd never seen another kid take to music almost as quickly as Kurt had. It always pleased her when children found joy in things like music and art.

In Elizabeth Hummel's opinion, Brittany was a very special child. She had such a vivid imagination and while some might dismiss her odd way of talking as flighty, Elizabeth found it enchanting. Brittany had no concept that anything she said might sound strange. Her manner of speaking was completely honest and carefree. She never seemed to worry about being judged for what she said. There was magic in the whimsical way Brittany seemed to see the world and that she shared this whimsy so freely was something that Elizabeth thought should be fostered.

She had noticed that while her son was still very well spoken for a boy of four, he was starting to allow his own inner creativity to come out more and more with Brittany's influence. They had known the girl in passing from dance classes but aside from getting to see the effusive joy she exuded when she moved to any music, they hadn't really interacted with her. Elizabeth felt badly about that now, she seemed so sweet and it was a shame that they had never made the effort to get to know her sooner. Kurt said hi to her at dance class but that was usually the extent of it. Perhaps they'd had maybe two entire conversations since Kurt started there. Kurt however had always watched the way the little girl danced and she often found Kurt in his room later those days trying to mimic what he'd seen the little girl do.

That they were now friends was something that Elizabeth felt very happy about. Kurt seemed to understand that Brittany's whimsy was special and he listened to every odd little story with rapt attention. In turn, Brittany listened to Kurt go on about fashion and all of the other things that interested him. She allowed him to go through her closet at her place and was excited to play dress up and show off whatever he put together. She was also starting to pick up some of the bigger words that she heard Kurt using. Elizabeth was certain that Brittany was a very intelligent little girl, those blue eyes seemed to pick up everything. More than awareness, the girl was also highly intelligent in the emotional sense.

Elizabeth loved her son dearly but she knew that Kurt could sometimes be rather intractable. He already had firm ideas on things and could be difficult when he was of a mind to be. However, Kurt was also a sensitive little boy though he tried to hide it and Brittany seemed to know just when to back off and when to ignore Kurt all together and she would hug him and he would tense at first before relaxing and returning the hug. She didn't seem to mind that other kids their age didn't know what to make of Kurt who admittedly acted like a mini adult at times. She ignored them and kept right on with the friendship they'd developed.

Kurt had always been just a little aloof from other children. He wasn't really interested in playing in the dirt or doing any of the games that other little boys seemed to be into. He liked tea parties and pretend and dress up and he liked to put together little plays. Brittany was delighted to join him - singing and whatever else he came up with. It was so refreshing to know that her son had finally found another child that understood him. Which was another reason that Elizabeth took such an interest in the first real friend Kurt had made. The piano lesson however was over for now and Elizabeth released Brittany so she and Kurt could go play.

Kurt led Brittany to his room. He moved over to the little bookshelf and carefully put his book away. His room was almost fastidiously neat. He didn't like disorder, all his things had their place and he liked them just so. Brittany's room was as whimsical as she was but that was fine for her. He moved over to his little music player that his mother had set up for him so that he could have his music to practice to. "I thought we might go through some of the combinations from dance class if that's okay?" Kurt asked.

Brittany lit up. "Oh yes, I like dancing and even if this isn't the best for all of it we can definitely do some of it," she agreed.

"I just... I had some ideas and I don't think I can show them in class but I wanted to show them to you if you don't mind," Kurt explained.

"You have ideas for dance? I can't wait to see it Kurty. You do move really well you know. You don't think so and I know you don't believe me when I say it but you do. If you keep that shaking your head stuff up I might have to get San to help me convince you," Brittany warned gently.

"San?"

"Santana Lopez, she's my bestest girl friend." Brittany explained.

Kurt's eyes went wide. "You're friends with her? Even third graders are afraid of her," he said in a cautious whisper. Santana was not in his pre-school class and there was a part of him that was grateful of that after he'd heard some things about her.

"She's really not bad. She just doesn't like it when people say mean things to her friends. But instead of just crying about it... she does things to get them to stop. She even got weirdo Jacob to leave me alone," Brittany said with a grin.

Kurt blinked in awe of that. No one could make Jacob Ben Israel do anything... "If she can do that I think I want to know her," he marvelled.

"She wants to meet you. I told her all about you. But we'll talk more about San later. Dance now please," Brittany giggled. Kurt obliged her, putting on the music and attempting to show her the ideas he'd had as best as he could. He was however not a true choreographer.

Brittany watched him and she could see what he was trying to do. She knew she was little but already her mind was putting together the shapes and forms of people dancing. She saw the way movement was and she thought she had an idea of what it should be. She just loved dancing so much and so that was easy for her. She furrowed her brow as she followed along and the words of their dance teacher, Miss Suzanne was almost like a voice over in her head as she watched Kurt change the choreography they'd been taught.

"That's pretty good Kurty... but I think you missed a step or two because it doesn't look finished yet," she observed.

Kurt frowned. "I know, I feel that way too but I don't know how to fix it," he sighed.

"Well let's go through it and maybe together we can fix it," she offered as she moved beside him so she could move with him.

He nodded and they spent almost the rest of play time working it out only stopping when Elizabeth called them down for a snack. Both children bounced down the steps, nearly buoyant with the energy that came from almost working out the choreography they'd been working out.


	3. Chapter 3

Santana did not know what to think of Kurt Hummel. Sure, he was a very pretty boy but he seemed almost meek and she didn't have time for such things. The only reason she was even giving this boy a chance was because of Brittany, her best girl was over the moon for this pretty little boy and Santana was determined to get to the bottom of why. What was so great about this little fairy of a boy? Sure, he was well dressed but that could just be his mother's skill and not his own. Most boys she knew were obnoxious and gross. Just because the kid was being quiet did not exempt him from that.

She had come over to Brittany's house though that wasn't unusual, she was here at least once a week if not more. She knew that Britt was taking piano lessons from Mrs. Hummel. She knew that Britt had dance class with Kurt and okay so maybe that was a little cool. She knew that Miss Suzanne's class wasn't the easiest so Kurt had to be good to be in there with Brittany. Santana liked watching Brittany dance. She herself wasn't in those particular dance classes, but she was in gymnastics and a couple of different dance classes that suited her personality better.

Kurt was watching her warily, of course he had good reason. Santana had a bit of a reputation, she frightened kids older and bigger than herself. She'd learned intimidation techniques from her older brother who was already in middle school. You just didn't mess with the Lopez children, hell you didn't mess with the Lopez family in general. Yet, Brittany seemed to think that Santana had hung the moon so there had to be something to the girl. They weren't in the same class, and wouldn't be until the classes merged at the end of the year so there was far too much that he didn't know and that hampered his ability to make a good decision here.

Brittany saw how wary Kurt and Santana were being of each other. She knew what the other kids said about Tana, but they had never tried to get to know her friend. Santana was fiercely protective of herself and of the people and things that she cared about and woe be to any who threatened such. She liked how fierce and how fiery Santana was. She liked how well spoken and how smart Kurt was and how neither of her friends judged her for her whimsy. Since Santana and Kurt were both awesome and both her friends she thought that they should also be friends.

Brittany then got the most brilliant idea, she moved over to her music player and put on the song that Mrs. Hummel had taught her on the piano that she had then been kind enough to record Brittany playing. It was a very bouncy song something about the Spider's dance or something, it was in Italian - the name and she didn't speak it. Tarantella maybe? Anyway it was lively and bouncy and she adored it and it was so much fun to play. Once it started, Brittany pulled Santana into dancing around the room with her and then she caught Kurt and made him join in the dance and soon the three of them were dancing together.

By the end of it, silly as it might have been they were all laughing and having fun. "Alright, I give. Anyone who can dance with Britt like this is okay," Santana admitted when they finally collapsed half in a pile on Brittany's floor.

Kurt took a moment to catch his breath. "So, this was an interesting start to a friendship," he commented.

"But it is a good start isn't it?" Brittany inquired.

Kurt and Santana both grinned at her. "It is," they agreed.

"Will you braid my hair now Kurty?" Brittany inquired.

"Go get your brush and your bow," Kurt agreed and moved a pillow to the floor and got the chair that sat at Brittany's vanity and moved it behind the pillow. Brittany was a little too tall for him to do this any other way. He had watched his mother braid her hair and even watched his mother braid Brittany's hair and he had figured out how to do it himself and now Brittany asked him to do so almost every time he came over.

Brittany came bouncing back with her brush in one hand and her favorite bright red hair bow in the other. She handed both to Kurt and then sat down on the pillow. This was already routine now. Kurt began to carefully brush through her hair and she had to admit he was more gentle than her mother was. As soon as he had brushed out all of the tangles he began working on the braid. Difficult as it was for his small hands, he still did very well.

It had taken Kurt about ten minutes to get the braid done and secured with the red bow. Santana had watched him the entire time. He was very careful, meticulous and gentle with his efforts. He also seemed to enjoy doing it. What was best of all in her mind however, was the happy smile settled on Brittany's lips. Anyone that could make Britt smile like that was definitely something else. Her own hair was back in a regular ponytail and it seemed kind of boring now that her best friend's hair was braided.

When Kurt finished, Brittany surged up from her seat and embraced him in a hug. "Thanks Kurty!" she exclaimed as she bounced over to her vanity to look in the mirror. She didn't know why Kurt was able to do so well, he shouldn't be able to but his braiding was much better than her mother's.

Once Brittany had vacated the pillow, Santana plopped herself down on it almost expectantly. She looked over her shoulder at Kurt who looked slightly startled. She couldn't help but grin at that. "Make with the braiding," She half commanded, though she kept her tone somewhat nice.

Kurt looked to Brittany first because he was going to have to use her brush and was given a nod and a happy smile as Britt bounded back over with her old maid cards to play with Santana while he worked on San's hair. Kurt resigned himself to it and gently pulled the ponytail holder out of Santana's hair and began to carefully brush through it.

The longer Kurt worked on brushing through her hair, the more Santana relaxed. He had a gentle hand but the pressure of the brush against her scalp was almost like a massage and it felt good. She barely even noticed when he started to braid her hair. She was amazed that a boy her own age could braid hair without tugging it and making it hurt. She was half asleep on the pillow, leaning against Kurt's tiny legs by the time he finished braiding her hair.

He looked just a bit uncomfortable but he didn't say anything - he really didn't want to upset the fiery girl who scared third graders. She did however notice that he'd stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, a brow arched. "Done?" she inquired, her tone almost lazy.

"Done," he affirmed and was relieved when she moved away from him. It was very odd being leaned against like that and it had made it awkward trying to braid her hair but it had all worked out. Little did Kurt know that he had just started down the path of befriending Santana Lopez.


End file.
